Win dm ill-regulator



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

s. A. RoUsl-z. WINDMILL lLHGrULAI'OR.

Patented Jan. 26

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(No Mode1.) 2 sheetssheer 2.

s. A. ROUSE. WIN'DMILL REGULATOR. Y No. 576,078. .Patented Jan. 26, 1897.

2" 2 L il *l J7 fjf f We ' zyefzldf UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SEYMOUR A. ROUSE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

` WINDMILL-*REGU LATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 576,078, dated January 26, 1897.

Application filed December 9, 1895. Serial No. 571,464. (No model.) I

To @ZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, SEYMOUR A. RoUsE, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Windmill-Regulators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in hydraulic regulators for windmill pumping outfits of that class which operate to pullthe :mill out of the Wind or otherwise check its operation when the water in a tank supplied by the pump reaches a predetermined depth. Regulators of this character usually embrace a float-valve which controls the service-pipe leading from the pump to the tank, and a hydraulic cylinder and piston communicating with said service-pipe and connected with a pull-out or furl wire or equivalent mechanism of the mill,whereby an increased pressure caused by the continued action of the pump after the service-pipe is closed by the floatvalve will operate on said hydraulic cylinder and piston to pull the mill out of the wind and check the pumping` operation. One class of valves for controlling the action of the hydraulic cylinder and piston operates to alternately open communication between said cylinder and the service-pipe and between said cylinder and an exhaust-passage, so that af ter the regulator has been vbrought into operation to stop the mill a decreased pressure in the service-pipe Will permit Vthe controllingvalve to cut off the latter from the cylinder, which will then exhaust its contents through said exhaust-passage and permit the mill to come again into action.

The object of the present invention is to provide a regulator having an improved valve of the class last referred to which shall be simple and inexpensive in construction and eective and durable in operation under the rough usage and lack of care to which devices 'of the character under consideration are ordinarily subjected.

In the accompanying drawing the figure is a general view of the pumping outt provided with the regulator and valve constructed in accordance with my invention.

In said drawing, A designates the upper portion or coupling of a windmill-pump, `l?) the service-pipe leading from saidcoupling, and C a tank into which the service-pipe dis- A, according as the valve ct is raised or lowv ered. Any suitable device ordinarily located upon or adjacent to the pump-spout may be used to raise and lower said Valve. The coupling A is connected with the pump-cylinders (which are not herein illustrated) by the depending pipe A2, and on the upper side of the' coupling, opposite said pipe A3, is a stutiing-box A4, through which the plungerrod reciprocates. The parts thus far described constitute in themselves no portion of the present improvements, and may be of any other suitable or preferred construction.

The liow of water through the service-pipe into the tank C is controlled by a suitable valve D, so as to be shut off when the depth of the water in the tank exceeds a certain predetermined limit. As herein shown, saidvalve D embraces a valve-plate that is located in the tank immediately above the open mouth of the pipe B and is secured to an end of the lever D, the oscillation ot' which is controlled by a connected lioat D2. The latter is made sufficiently buoyant to overcome the pressure exerted on the valve from the service-pipe and serves to hold said valve closed when the tank is filled to the desired level.

E designates a branch pipe leading from the service-pipe to the regulator-cylinder F,which is made to reciprocate vertically upon a hollow fixed piston F', carried at the lower end of the rigid vertical terminal portion e of the pipe E. The upper end of the cylinder F is connected by a yoke f with the pull-out wire Gr or an equivalent part of the Windmill mechanism, and the usual resetting devices of the mill normally exert a constantly-upward tension, tending to maintain the cylinder F in its uppermost position. YVhen, however, an abnormal pressure of water is admitted through the pipe E and hollow piston F', said cylinder Will be forced down to pull the mill out of the IOO wind against the tension of the resetting devices-in the same general manner as in other regulators of this type.

My improved controlling-valve comprises an outer casing H, usually of cast-iron, having terminal cylinders H H2, preferably made of brass, the upper one of which cylinders is considerably smaller than the other. The casing H incloses two valve-plates 7L 7L', which are secured to a common valve-stem H3, that extends longitudinally through the casing and cylinders. The valve-plate h is normally held in contact with an annular seat h2 of the casing by means of a spring H4, which is applied to lthe upper end of the valve-stem and the tension of which may be adjusted by the thu 1nbnut 77.3 or equivalent device. The pipe E enters the casing at a point h4 below the seat h2 and leaves it at a point h5 above said seat, so that the valve-plaie h serves to normally close said pipe. The valve-plate 71, is arranged for contact with an annular seat h6, located in the casing above the point h5, but normally stands separated from said seat, so as to afford free communication between the hydraulic cylinder an d the waste-pi pe Lwhich leads off from the casing at a point la7 between said seat 716 and the upper cylinder Hl.

H5 H6 designate pistons secured to the valvestem .H3 and fitting within the top and bottom cylinders H and H2 of the casing. The area of the pistons H5 and HG are so proportioned with respect to each other and to the tension of the spring H4 that under the normal head of water due to the height of the tank C said spring will hold the valve 7L closed. When, however, the ioat-valve operates to close the service-pipe, by reason of the increased depth of water in the tank, the continued operation of the pump will increase the normal head in said service-pipe and force down the larger piston H6 in opposition to the smaller piston Hi and spring H4, and will thusv carry the valve H away from its seat, so as to admit a flow of water from the service-pipe to the regulatorecylinder F. The latter will thereupon act inthe manner before described to pull`the mill out of the wind and will continue to hold it thus out of operative position until the pressure in the service-pipe is reduced to normal again, as, for example, by the opening of the float-valve when sufiicient water is drawn off from the tank, when the spring H4, aided by the piston H5, will overcome the pressure exerted on the piston H6, close the valve h, and open the valve 77,. The cylinder F is thereupon relieved from the pressure of the water in the service-pipe, and under the tension of the resetting devices of the mill will discharge its contents through the waste-pipe I and thus permit the mill to be brought into action again. The cock or valve ,1" inthe waste-pipe I may be adjusted to vary the effective area of the waste-pipe and will enable the apparatus to be set so as to permit the mill to resume its operations more or less rapidly, as desired.

The portion e of the pipe E which leads from the casing to the cylinder F is herein shown as rigidly connected with the casing at one end by an ordinary screw-joint and at its other end is connected by an elbow with the vertical terminal portion e of the pipe which extends into the regulator-cylinder. The entire mechanism is then shown as rig idly supported from the air-pipeA and spoutpi pe A2 bymeans of clamping-collars a2 and a3, which embrace the pipe-section e. The lower section c2 of the pipe E, which leads from the service-pipe into the casing H, is conveniently made in the form of a flexible hose, so that said service-pipe may be carried off in any direction from the coupling A without interfering with the support of the regulating mechanism in the manner described. A check -valve B is also herein shown as inserted in the usual manner in the service-pipe B between the pipe E and the coupling A.

To provide for the relief of any excessive pressure in the regulator-cylinder due to an unexpected working of the mill and Vpump after being supposedly thrown out of action by the regulator, as mayT sometimes occur in high andvariable winds or resulting from any other causes, said cylinder is herein shown as provided at its lower end with a safety-valve f', which may be adjusted to open whenever the pressure in the cylinder exceeds a safe limit.

One important advantage of my present improvement consists in the fact that the differential pistons obviate the necessity of a stuffing box or boxes, which if packed sufficiently tight to prevent leakage would inevitably cause the valve-rod to bind and materially interfere with the proper work of the regulator, since the spring would then have to be screwed down hard enough to overcome the initial friction as well as the predetermined pressure at the beginning of the return stroke, and this excess of springtension would unite with the initial friction at the beginning of the downward stroke to unduly resist the starting of the regulator. Under such circumstances, therefore, the regulator would be slow and uncertain both in going into and out of action, and the tension of the spring would, moreover, require to be readj usted each time the stuffing-box was tightened or its packing renewed and at various vother times to compensate for the variation in friction as the packing became worn. T-hese disadvantages are especially apparent in amechanism of the character under consideration, since its position within th'e well renders it difficult of access, while the persons in charge of the apparatus are usually entirely unskilled as well as very careless in the handling of machinery of any kind. Moreover, while obviating the use of the stufng-boxes, the pistons provided are not in themselves liable to un= due wear or to require frequent attention or replacing, since their provision in cylinders IOO located at the opposite ends of the casing and outside of the several ports avoids the necessity of their reciprocating across such ports and the cutting of the packing ordinarily incident to constructions in which the pistons so operate. Y

In Fig. 2 I have illustrated a modified construction embodying my improvements, in which the valve-casing M is provided with cylindric end portions containing differential pistons M' and M? and a valve m on the valvestem M2 in the saine manner as in Fig. 1. The ports leading to the hydraulic cylinder F and service-pipe B are located between the pistons M and M3, and the valve m is normally held closed, so as to cut off communication between said service-pipe and cylinder, by an adjustable spring M4, applied to the valve-stem, as before described. The waste-valve in this case is, however, provided in the form of a separate valve N, which is operated by a continuation of the stem M2, said valve N being normally open. Vhen the pressure in the service-pipe is abnormally increased, the piston M will be forced out against the spring M4 and piston M3 and will simultaneously close the waste-valve N and open the valve m and thus bring the regulator into operation.

I claim as my invention-M 1. In a windmill pumping outfit, a regulator embracing a hydraulic cylinder and plunger operatively attached to the pull-out mechanism of the mill, a supply-passage leading to said cylinder from the service-pipe which connects the pump and tank and means for controlling t-he vflow of water to and from the hydraulic cylinder, comprising a casing provided at its ends with cylindric portions, pistons fitting said cylinders and attached to a common stem, an adjustable spring applied to the valve-stem in opposition to one of the pistons, ports between the two pistons leading to the hydraulic cylinder and service-pipe, a valve on said stem normally closing communication between said ports, a normally open exhaust-passage communicating with the hydraulic cylinder and a valve for closing said passage when the rst valve opens.

larger piston, valve-plates on said stem cooperating with valve-seats in the casing, a port between the valve-seats communicating with the cylinder, a port between one Valveseat and the larger piston communicating with the service-pipe andan exhaust-port between the other valve-seat and the smaller piston, substantially as described.

3. In a windmill pumping outfit, the combination with a pump and its upwardly-extending pipes, the tank and its service-pipe and valve, of a transverse pipe clamped to a pump-pipe and provided with a downwardlyprojecting terminal and hollow plunger at the end of said terminal, a regulator-cylinder fitting over said terminal and plunger and connected with the mill pull-out, and a regulator-valve rigidly secured to the opposite end of said transverse pipe comprising a central casing having terminal cylinders of greater and less diameter, differential pistons in said cylinders on a common valve-stem, an adjustable spring applied to said valve-stem in opposition to the larger piston, valve-seats in the casing above and below the transverse pipe, valve-plates in the stem cooperating with said valve-seats, a flexible connection leading from a point below the lower valveseat and the longer piston to the service-pipe and an exhaust-pipe leading from a point between the upper valve-seat and the smaller piston.

SEYMOUR A. ROUSE. 

